New immigration applications will not be accepted

New applications under skilled worker category and investor program will not be accepted

Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney has announced that applications to skilled worker and investor programs will not be accepted.

“Kenney informed that applications for skilled worker program will be accepted from January onwards when all the important changes will be made. The investor program applications will be halted till the time changes are made in the existing inventory. “

The applicants who were almost ready to submit their applications have been taken aback. Even the lawyers dealing with new applicants were also surprised hearing the news as none was informed about the changes beforehand.

Daniel Kingwell, Toronto based immigration lawyer said, “We are not surprised by anything the Government does.”

He also added that “it is consistent with the pattern of freezing everything to deal with the backlog.”

The Immigration lawyer also fears that the Immigrants will look for other options if their applications are not accepted in Canada. The concern is even more as the process has been shut down for an indefinite period.

Kenney as an answer to this concern says that Ottawa continues to process the applications already placed. Hence, there should be no dearth of workers in the region.

Kenney informed the media that the government plans to revise the existing criteria and this is a temporary pause only.

Though the changes have not been planned as yet but, Kenney proposes to create an application management system for the employers of Canada to select the candidates with good potential. The attempt would be to pre-screen the applicants and make the job easier for the employers.

Kenney had accepted about 700 applications for investor program. The investment amount was doubled and was raised from $400,000 to $800,000. Amazingly it took only half an hour to receive so many applications. At present there are 25,000 applications to be processed.

About 463,214 people are waiting for a decision on federal skilled worker program.

According to the new law about 280,000 applications filed after February, 2008 will be discarded or returned back to the applicants along with the application fee.

The applicants will be moving the court against Ottawa. They have agreed not to destroy or return the applications within 90 days of the passage of bill until the Court certifies the lawsuit.

There is a wait all over for the application process to start and also to see the fate of applications filed earlier.